Quick Links

Make sure to reserve time this Thursday evening and bring a friend or three. (Really, let's pack the house!). We're going to dive into Ruby and the new C# 3.0 language features at the same time. We have some great giveaways, including Windows Vista Ultimate, a beautiful Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Pro Keyboard and Mouse, and several books. We look forward to seeing you there.

The Dallas C# SIG meeting is Thursday, 2007.08.02 at 6pm at the Microsoft Offices. Microsoft's address is 7000 State Highway 161, Irving, 75039 - (469) 775- 5000. Jef's cell phone is 214.728.0650 in case you have any trouble finding the place. We hope to see you there! Please register at the (big D) C# SIG site so that we can get an accurate head count.

Shazam! A Ruby vs. C# 3.0 Smackdown

About the presentation: When Ruby developers talk about using the language and libraries like Rails, they often use the terms like "joy." Microsoft has released the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR), which is a set of libraries that provide a standard, shared, dynamic type system, a standard hosting model, and fast dynamic code generation. This DLR will make it easier for .NET developers to experience this "joy" first-hand. Microsoft has also released IronPython and [recently a beta of] IronRuby. In honor of these releases, the C# SIG is delighted to welcome Adam Keys, leader of the Dallas Ruby Brigade, a local user group for Ruby enthusiasts. Adam is going to give an overview of Ruby and specifically show how existing Ruby features map to the new C# 2.0 and 3.0 features. In true smackdown style (and assuming we can get the dual presentation going!), Jef is going to try to keep up in C# using Orcas Beta 2 and .Net 3.5. The new features are: C# 2.0

lexical closures via anonymous methods

covariant, contravariant delegate signatures

separate accessibility for property get, set

Coalesce operator ??

partial classes

static classes

custom iterators (ala python generators)

C# 3.0

Linq

Anonymous types

type inference for local variables, implicitly typed arrays

[Strongly typed] lambda expressions

automatic properties

extension methods

Adam's Bio: Adam is a software developer from Dallas, TX. He's been working on a book about Web Services and Ruby that he hopes to finish before the galaxy collapses on itself. He also writes on his weblog, The Real Adam on topics ranging from celebrity rumors to Ruby and microformats. When not writing bios in the third person, Adam volunteers for dog rescue and as a feral cat caretaker. In general, Adam also likes to crack jokes and make those around him laugh. Its a curse.

Download News

There are a bunch of new .NET, VS, and Silverlight downloads that are worth looking into: Microsoft recently released

Check them out. They are cheap or free and a great opportunity to learn.

Thanks to Chris Koenig, his Chicago counterpart, Dave Bost, and a few other people like Christopher Reed out of Lubbock, we've been busy getting the Dallas C# SIG hooked up with book publishers. O'Reilly will provide review copies assuming someone is willing to step up and write a book review. If you have any O'Reilly books on your wish list, please let us know, and we'll order a copy. When you finish the write up, we'll post it on the C# SIG site to share with everyone else.

User Group Business

Chris Koenig, our local DPE Developer Evangelist and facilities sponsor for our meetings, needs some additional information to make things work for him internally with security, building management, and so on. Starting in July, we're going to need an RSVP listing for the user group prior to the event sent to Chris so that he can forward it on to the Security/Reception officers. This new addition is part of an arrangement they have made with Security/Reception to continue hosting meetings in the Las Colinas office while minimizing the DPE team's costs. Therefore, it is very important that you register prior to the meeting. Additionally, we need to track the following items for the group:

Number of Attendees

Number of First Time Attendees

Number of Members in the Group

This helps Microsoft in general and Chris in particular understand how the C# SIG fits into the community outreach program, and helps them determine how much support to provide to us relative to other groups, including how many points we get to use toward free giveaways from Microsoft, etc. I appreciate your help and support in this effort.

We look forward to seeing you at this and future meetings. In future versions of the newsletter, we'll make sure to include more and more links to relevant microsoft e-learning, and local events like the upcoming Vista launch. Please (please please) confirm your email address so that we can get an accurate count of interest. Also, don't forget to invite a friend!